


give a little, take a little

by theredhoodie



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Light Angst, episode rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 04:01:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17399669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theredhoodie/pseuds/theredhoodie
Summary: Robbie is one of the agents and friends collected in 5x12 to attend the FitzSimmons wedding. He also happens to be unaffected by the fear dimension so he's a first choice to save Coulson.AKA in which I rewrite this episode giving Robbie the proper reintroduction he deserved in season 5.





	give a little, take a little

**Author's Note:**

> I rarely do rewrites of episodes. I used to do it all the time, but I tend to go mostly full AU with fics now. However, this was just screaming out to me and I had to write it. I tried to keep it as canon as possible!

There were plenty of faces coming off that Quinjet that she didn’t expect to see. SHIELD agents, Mike Peterson and…

“Robbie?” The gun in Daisy’s hands felt cold and heavy even as her heart lifted the tiniest bit. It was hard to be happy and angry and scared at the same time, she didn’t know how to juggle it all.

“You know this guy?” Deke asked, voice squeaking momentarily. He cleared it as Robbie walked forward, brushing past him.

“Yeah,” Daisy breathed out, holstering her gun. “He’s—“

“We need to get to Coulson,” May said, voice sharp with intent. It brought everyone to focus. 

Mike stepped forward, the mechanics of half of his body whirling with gears and lights and computer chips. “What do we need to do?”

“Short version?” Daisy asked, eyes flickering between Mike and Robbie. “There’s a rift to a fear dimension downstairs. Coulson is down there, _alone_ , trying to close it but we lost contact with him.”

“Fear dimension,” Robbie echoed, frowning slightly.

“It’s manifesting physical fears. One of them attacked Deke and almost killed Yoyo,” May continued.

“I can go,” Robbie said.

Mike stepped forward. “Me too.”

Deke sized up both of the newcomers and scoffed. “Who are these guys?”

Daisy took a moment to roll her eyes before leading the troupe into the Lighthouse and to the elevator that would take them down. “There’s a round thingy filled with gravitonium. It needs to go into the rift so it will close. But Fitz said you can’t get too close, or you could be pulled into the other dimension.” She stopped at the elevator panel. Mike and Robbie stepped into the elevator. Everyone else had gone through to fight any lingering fear manifestations.

“Got it,” Mike nodded.

“Save Coulson,” Daisy said, her eyes burrowing into Robbie’s. “Please.”

He gave her a single nod of affirmation before the doors closed and hissed.

* * *

The trail was easy to follow. Mike had a lot of gadgets; he could see thermal readings and easily found where the tear was. The Rider was on edge, struggling to get out, but Robbie kept him down as they walked. Charred walls, messy halls. This was not the same sort of put-together underground base Robbie had been to before. Everything felt just a little…unhinged.

The twitchy guy with the weird name gave them a short low-down on the jet, read from a piece of paper obviously written by Phil Coulson. It involved things like an alien race called the Kree, time travel, the destruction of the Earth, and SHIELD’s desire to stop that from happening. Robbie didn’t care what was going on either way; he and Daisy Johnson were…inexplicably bound to keep meeting each other. It didn’t matter if it was by chance or not.

“Hear that?” Mike paused.

Robbie did. Two voices. The air also felt weird, shaky. The Rider made his skin burn and steam rose into the air. “Doesn’t sound like a fight.”

Mike tilted his head to the side. “One of those voices is mine.”

The two men shared a glance and then split. Robbie hid behind some containers in the next room and Mike walked around. Coulson was there, talking with someone who looked like Mike but wasn’t. Beyond them was a shivering slice through the air, dark and electric.

The not Mike grabbed Coulson and promptly exploded into dark dust. The real Mike stood behind the manifestation. “What’re you doing, Coulson? Pick up the doodad, let’s go!”

From near Robbie came a reptilian hissing and a giant of a man with grey skin and featherlike hair appeared out of nowhere…fears, Robbie told himself. They could show up wherever the hell they wanted.

Mike handled the large but slow fighter easily as Robbie stepped out from his spot and grabbed his chain.

“Reyes?” Coulson squinted at him from the floor just before the aliens showed up.

Maybe these were the Kree Deke told them about, maybe not. It didn’t really matter because they were crawling down the walls with sharp teeth and big tails intent to kill. Robbie didn’t hold the Rider back now, shoving himself into the passenger seat and letting the vengeance demon have his fun destroying fake things that could do some real damage.

Coulson ran for his gun and the gravi-whatever thing Daisy told them about while the monsters swarmed. Mike was all acrobatics and advanced weaponry; Robbie and the Rider were all hellfire and a smoking chain. Their job was to protect Coulson so he could do what he needed to do and stop this rift from spreading. 

Something flew through the air behind the Rider, who felt the presence but didn’t turn, smoking out another manifestation. 

The pulse and screaming winds started, knocking them all simultaneously back and then yanking them toward the rift. The eternal flames on the Rider’s skull were nearly snuffed out. He let out a roar of discontent as Mike grounded Coulson so he wouldn’t get sucked in.

But the fun wasn’t over yet.

Some…thing walked into the room. Some tall, tentacle headed thing and the Rider wanted it gone. More than just the usual desire for death and vengeance. It was like the Rider knew what it was, even though whatever it was was fake…

Chain burst to flames and was thrown toward the newcomer, who lifted his hand to do…something. Didn’t really matter. The chain wrapped around his slimy neck and with a tingle tug, the being burst into dust and smoke.

And then…it was done. The gravity didn’t get worse before it got better, it just stopped. The air was full of ash. With a flourish, the Rider slung his chain across his chest and his flames melted away, leaving Robbie in the aftermath.

Mike and Coulson panted and glanced around the room, waiting for anything else to creep in. After a few seconds, Coulson looked between the both of them and said: “You’re real, right?”

Mike chuckled and clapped his hand on Coulson’s shoulder. “‘Fraid so. What were those things?”

“It’s a long story,” Phil said, patting Mike’s chest.

“Everything’s a long story with you guys,” Robbie said, shaking his head and readjusting the chain. 

The three of them walked back to the elevator. Once inside, Coulson leaned back against a wall and let out a sigh of relief. “Deke actually found you guys.”

“Somehow,” Robbie said, his tone inferring that he had no idea how someone like this Deke could do much of anything useful. But, he had to hand it to the guy: he’d gotten them all here in time.

“Did he tell you why?”

“It wasn’t about the fear dimension,” Mike said. “I hear there’s a wedding.”

A smile flickered across Coulson’s face. “Good, good.”

Robbie shifted on his feet and swallowed. He wasn’t much of a wedding person.

* * *

The forest in the Lighthouse was apparently a permanent fixture for now. Daisy cleaned herself up as best she could and somehow managed not to crush the flowers Deke bought. Her tears of frustration were gone, for now. Coulson survived, the rest of SHIELD was here, along with a few extra friends.

Everyone else was already down there except Fitz, Coulson and Deke. Daisy should have gone down with Jemma and the others but she had to find someone first. And find him she did.

“Going somewhere?” she asked, catching him off guard as he tried to get the door to the landing strip to open. It wouldn’t, and even if it did, the hanger was closed and he couldn’t fly a jet.

“Trying to.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” She waved the bouquet in her hands, the one she was supposed to be giving Jemma _right now_. “The wedding.”

“I don’t do weddings.”

“Says every man ever.” She rolled her eyes and put her free hand on her hip. “Robbie Reyes, will you come to this wedding if I ask you very nicely?”

He looked at her like there was something he wanted to say very badly, but it was stuck in his throat or on the tip of his tongue. Because there was a lot he wanted to say but wouldn’t. “I barely know your friends.”

“You know them enough.” She stepped up to him and then held out an elbow, daring him to take it. “Come on. You’re gonna make me late and I’m the bridesmaid. I’ve never been a bridesmaid before. You’re ruining this for me.”

He smiled ever so slightly and shook his head. “Fine, okay.” He did not take her arm, but he did walk beside her to the elevator. It headed down, down, down and the silence between them wasn’t totally horrible.

The parts of Deke’s story pertaining Daisy seeped back into the forefront of his consciousness. He didn’t understand all of it but that didn’t mean—

“This is so weird,” Daisy whispered as the doors slid open, a hundred feed under ground into a huge, grassy field, sun, clouds and all.

Robbie tilted his head up and squinted. The sun felt warm, and nothing felt synthetic. “Wow,” was all he said before Daisy grabbed his arm and pushed him toward one side of the line.

Jemma stood in white and no one was seated, everyone was lined up on either side of her, making an aisle since they were outside and not in a church or something. Daisy handed her the flowers that would soon be given back to her and the excitement and tension rose as they waited for the remainder of the group, the team, the family, to arrive.

Daisy had never known enough people for long enough to go to a wedding. Robbie had been to a few but none stuck out in his mind as anything all that remarkable. 

But the FitzSimmons wedding was heartbreakingly beautiful. It was simple and exactly what they deserved after everything the two of them had been through.

The final words were said and the newlywed kiss followed. 

Daisy felt happy and sad all at the same time and she looked across the make-shift aisle to Robbie. Their eyes met in the bright light of the impossible forest. They had one of those slow-motion-bleary-eyed-catch-your-breath sort of moments that lasted years and seconds. And then she blinked and a fat tear slipped down to her nose. She sniffed and brushed away the tear and turned her attention to the married couple.

Mack took photos and the smiles and applause was catching. 

Much to Deke’s displeasure, the party was held outside. There were folding tables and chairs and favorite foods. The moment lasted and it was beautiful and glorious and Mack continued to take photos and videos that would forever catalogue just how many cuts and bruises and scars were adorning all of them.

* * *

Some time later, everyone staying was getting a tour of the new location. Mike was the first to leave to continue his lone wolf work, though he agreed he would feed any information SHIELD’s way if he heard anything.

There were so many levels that the Lighthouse felt ghostly and uncanny with only twenty or so people inside.

Robbie was the one who found Daisy this time. The room was big and had very little in it except some benches along the wall. He didn’t stop to think what it was intended for and simply sat down next to her. She had a bottle of whiskey next to her, but only a few sips were missing.

“Thanks for…for coming,” she said, clearing her throat and distracting herself by rubbing the side of her face without the injury on it.

“According to that squirrely guy, Coulson planned the whole thing. Getting everyone together and bringing them here.”

“Of course he did,” Daisy said, sitting back against the wall and letting her head rest against the cool concrete. The silence stretched out before she spoke again. “Coulson is dying. There is no more SHIELD. And I’ve seen the future. I destroy the world, y’know?” She said it casually, though her voice was thick with fear and anger and grief. 

“Hey,” Robbie said, brushing his hand against her knee. This felt like an echo of something that happened to them in the past, though their roles were reversed. And she was confessing to no one but the open air.

She leaned forward, hands digging into her thighs above her knees, hair falling around her face like a curtain. “I should be happy right now. My best friends just got married. But all I can think about is death.” She thought she was done with this, that she’d gotten all of this out when the rift was open, but she felt her throat getting hot, the burning behind her eyes, the telltale signs of her losing it.

Robbie sat quietly and let her tears fall and her shoulders shake until a particularly shuddering breath. He lifted his hand and pressed it against the small of her back. This woman who could move mountains was nothing but flesh and bone beneath a thin t-shirt; she was fragile and strong all at the same time.

Daisy leaned toward him, her shoulder against his side until she caught her breath. “This is so stupid,” she gasped out, getting ahold of herself and rubbing her face. 

“No it’s not.”

“It is. If I stay here, in this moment of weakness, I can’t move forward and protect everyone that I need to be protecting.”

“You’re not alone.”

“What?” She pushed her hair back and turned to meet his eyes. His voice was soft and she didn’t know what it meant. She was still grappling with what happened in the future, with being back in a world not yet destroyed. She hadn’t expected to see him so soon, or maybe ever again.

“You have a team. Aren’t they supposed to be helping you?”

“Coulson is putting me in charge. It’s on my shoulders. He made that decision for me.”

Robbie frowned a little, like he always seemed to do. Soon his expression would stay that way forever. “Then you take his decision and make it work for you. Take on what you can. Ask someone else to do what you can’t.”

“That’s not how this works.”

“It could.” He looked hopeful for her sake.

She gently sucked in her bottom lip and then let out a huge breath, turning away from him and running her hands over her face, through her hair, tucking it behind her ears. “I haven’t even…asked how you are. What you’ve been doing.”

“It hasn’t been long since I left with the book.” He was careful not to say the name, the dark feeling of it still clinging to his hands sometimes when he thought about it too much. He’d only just gotten back to this planet, this dimension before he was dragged down here to fight fear manifestations and attend a wedding.

Daisy turned her eyes to the ceiling and threw her arms up in the air before falling back. The wall was hard and she winced a little. “Of course. Time travel. I don’t know how long we were…in the future. Weeks, maybe, months.” She turned so she could see his profile. “Do you have any idea what I’m talking about?”

He turned to face her too. “It was explained poorly.”

Their faces were close and her breath smelled like the whiskey that she’d found locked in a desk. Everyone else was stuck with Deke’s Zima. She blinked and found her eyes still coated in tears, but they were ones of…happiness? Relief? Something other than sadness.

“Are you doing okay?” Her hand moved faster and heavier than expected, falling against his chest with a thud above his heart. It beat somehow, after all of the things that should have killed him. The things that _did_.

“Working things out,” he said, which was just about the same reply he gave her the last time they’d been together. “I haven’t…I dunno where Gabe is.”

“Shit.” She sat up quickly and tugged one of her legs onto the bench so she could face him with her whole body. “He’s safe. I was going to leave you a message but then we got…kidnapped to the future.” She licked her lips, trying to remember the small details. “He’s being looked after by two…bickering but amazing agents. They’re not here today because they’re with him.”

“I believe you.”

“I can contact them and you can go see him right away.” She scrambled to her feet but was stopped by Robbie grabbing her wrist to stop her.

“If he’s safe, then that’s all I need to know.” There were more words he wanted to say but didn’t.

This time, she didn’t let it slide. “And?” she prompted.

“And if you need me here…to take some of the load off your shoulders, I’ll stay.”

This sure felt like a slippery slope or maybe that was months-in-space-with-little-to-eat-followed-by-some-Zima-and-whiskey making her mind move in a hundred directions all at once.

What did she want? For Coulson to not die. He was more of a father to her than any one person had been a parent to her in her whole life. The team was a family and it wouldn’t be the same without him.

But she also knew that they weren’t out of the woods yet. The world could still end. She could still, somehow, kill billions. And maybe Robbie was right…if Coulson put SHIELD in her hands and she managed to somehow make something out of it, she could use help.

His hand slipped away from her wrist but she caught his fingers in hers. Oh this was bad and she was still oh so fucked up because of the Hive and Lincoln and everything she’d done to her team and this…this could go bad if she did it wrong.

So maybe she would take a little and see if he gave a little and that would be enough.

“You have no idea what you’re saying,” she said seriously and then tossed some hair over her shoulder. “This place is a dump. We just had a bomb go off downstairs. There’s barely any food and I’m pretty sure this,” still with her fingers intertwined with his, she sat back down and grabbed the bottle, “is the only worthy alcohol in this place.”

Their hands sat together, palms warm against each other, resting between their legs on the bench.

“I’m not on the cop’s radar or considered dead or whatever it is you and everyone else is,” Robbie said, enjoying the feeling of their hands together. He shouldn’t, but he did. Since the Rider, he’d done nothing for himself. His deal burned out any chance for normalcy for him, and he was barely able to hold onto his relationship with his brother because of it. 

But Daisy understood. And maybe that was enough for both of them. Mutual understanding.

“Are you offering to go buy me beer and rum?” Daisy asked, words exaggerated. She pushed down her fear and anger for just a few minutes at least. She tried to live in the moment.

He cracked a crooked grin. “I could do that.”

She smiled back and then groaned and kicked out into the air as if there was some attacker whose shins needed to meet her boots. “I have no idea where your car is.”

He tensed just enough for her to feel it where their arms pressed together. “I’ll find it.”

“Oh sure, with your magic car-finding-GPS,” she mused, once again tilting her head against the wall. The air grew still and their hands grew comfortable with each other. “What if I do destroy the world, Robbie? I’d kill billions.”

Her words were so soft he wasn’t sure she’d said them. “You won’t,” he replied, just as softly.

It wasn’t an answer and yet it worked enough for now. It was a bandaid over a chasm, but her emotions had been wrecked enough today that it was all she could handle. 

She smiled just a bit and reached up with her free hand. She skimmed her fingers over his skin, resting her hand on his cheek, touch as light as air. 

He closed his eyes and enjoyed it. It had been a while since he’d had any sort of contact that didn’t involve fists or punches or kicks or fire or bullets or anything to do with pain.

Daisy brushed her thumb over his cheek, once, twice, three times and then she took a long breath and reached for the whiskey once again. She was never giving up this bottle. “I’d like it if you stayed,” she said, before drowning out anything else she could have said with a big swig. She grimaced at the after affects that climbed down her throat. 

“Me too.” Robbie squeezed her hand just enough to remind her that they were still, in fact, holding hands.

“And I’ll get word to Lance and Bobbi so you can see Gabe,” she added, offering him the bottle.

He hesitated before shrugging and taking the bottle from her. “That seals the deal,” he said with a small smirk before taking a drink.


End file.
